Rape is a valuable agricultural crop used for both food and fodder purposes, and the main oilseed crop of the Republic of Belarus [1, 2]. The main task of selection work is to create varieties and hybrids that combine high yield potential, good product quality, resistance to diseases and pests, capable of withstanding sudden changes in weather conditions. The fundamental direction of yield increasing and overwintering of winter rape is the creation and introduction of new varieties into production. Variety is one of the means of agricultural production. From an economic point of view, different varieties differ from each other primarily by the fact that under the same conditions they can form different yields, differ in the level of resistance to biotic and abiotic environmental factors, sowing and ripening periods, etc.

In the Scientific and Practical Centre of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus on Agriculture, a large selection work was carried out to create the raw material and highquality (non-erucic, low-glucosinolate), productive, winter-hardy, resistant to lodging and shedding varieties of winter rape, which increased the importance of this crop in the Republic of Belarus and abroad. In 2018–2021, four new varieties of winter rape have been included in the State Register of Varieties of the Republic of Belarus: Zolotoy, Severin, Buyan, Nikolay. The article illustrates the economic and biological characteristics of newly released winter rape varieties.

Zolotoy. New mid-season non-erucic (00), low-glucosinolate (12.7–15.1 μM/g of dry matter) variety of food quality, canola quality. The average yield is 50.6 c/ha, which is 4.7 c/ha higher than the standard. The maximum yield is 62.8 c/ha. The weight of 1,000 seeds is 5.0–5.6 g. The seeds contain, on average, 45.7 % of fat and 21.2 % of protein. The new variety is resistant to lodging and shedding, and to Alternaria and Sclerotinia. Responsive to nitrogen fertilization and application of growth regulators. The Zolotoy variety is characterized by moderate growth of the above-ground mass in the summer-autumn vegetation season. Recommended for cultivation on sod-podzolic soils. Included in the State Register of the Republic of Belarus since 2018 for use in the Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel and Grodno Regions.